


The Diary and The Journal

by FairyRingsandWings



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Dark, Diary/Journal, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff, Friends to Lovers to Enemies, Gin N Tonic, Ginny is born in the past and goes to school with Tom Riddle, Minor Character Death - not Tom or Ginny, Non-Linear Narrative, Possessive Behavior, ginny/tom - Freeform, the villain wins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:21:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24865219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairyRingsandWings/pseuds/FairyRingsandWings
Summary: What if Tom's Riddle's diary was successful and the Heir of Slytherin once again returned?The story of a boy trapped in a diary and the girl trapped in a journal. Gin n Tonic.
Relationships: Tom Riddle/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	1. Deathly Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Ginny was born in the past and was a student at Hogwarts at the same time as Tom Riddle. As a result, history had changed somewhat and someone else ends up with Tom's diary. The story is told in non-linear and has lots of flashbacks. 
> 
> This is a prezzie for the lovely @ewa-jednak-chce-spac on tumblr. I asked people to send me some lyrics from a song and I'd write a drabble for them. The lyrics are "Thine eyes betray confusion Am I friend or am I fiend? Pardon me for this intrusion And I'll show you what I mean I've come to claim a heart from thee (My heart is broken can't you see?) Your final kiss belongs to me (Your scarlet kiss will set me free)" - Omnia "Wolf Song". 
> 
> Let me know what you all think! xx

A boy called Harry once found a diary, mysteriously tucked away in his school bag.

A short time later the boy died, his life drained by the leather-bound book.

Tom couldn't help but find it funny, what a silly little book could do, in the hands of a silly little boy. The Boy Who Lived was now The Boy Who Died - as it should have been from the start.

Tom Riddle paces around the Chamber of Secrets, his steps light and echoing. His Basilisk coils itself around the stone statues, watching, listening, waiting.

No longer was Tom a memory trapped in ink and parchment, he is alive and breathing, solid and full. Tom reaches out and runs his hand across the Basilisk's body, feeling the jagged emerald scales under his fingertips. He can smell the damp musk of the chamber. Hear the subtle breathes of the creature in sync with his own, the soft echo of water dripping against stone. He breathes in deeply, feeling the air fill his lungs then leave with a satisfied sigh. 

He is alive in every sense.

Too long he has been suspended in darkness, unaware of the world. Too long the world has been void of his presence and touch. It is time for things to change. Time for his work to progress - it has been stagnant for far too long. 

His future self had failed, and thanks to Harry Potter, who had naively filled his diary's pages with detailed accounts of Voldemort's demise, Tom knows how to succeed where his other self had failed. The wizarding world would once again learn to fear the name Voldemort, to never dare hold a thread of hope that someone could challenge him, that someone could survive where he promised nothing but death. With Harry Potter's departure of life, no one would question the power of the Dark Lord again. 

Tom moves towards the statue of Salzar Slytherin, his greatest ancestor, the giver of his heritage and noble mission. From inside the open mouth of the statue, Tom removes a withered tomb. It is autumn in colour, bound with a red leather strap. He strokes it fondly, the cover coarse to the touch. A name is etched at the bottom in bold black letters.

_The Journal of Ginny Weasley._

* * *

_You're having girl trouble?_

_No... maybe._ Ink drips onto parchment. _Yes. I feel silly asking._

After nearly fifty years of solitude, of impatiently waiting for someone to find his diary, it has finally found itself in the hands of a thirteen-year-old boy in his second year at Hogwarts. It displeases Tom when he discoverers that the boy was a half-blood, a Gryffindor at that. Given his lack of corporal form, Tom would have to make do with what he had been given. Ideally, he would have preferred a pure-blooded wizard or witch to be the catalyst for his rebirth and the carrying out of his families purpose. Someone worthy of the honour. A Slytherin like himself.

It matters little now. The more Tom learns of the boy, the more suitable he becomes. Perhaps it is fate that has put the boy in his path.

Harry was no ordinary child. 

He was Harry Poter - The Boy Who Lived. The boy who somehow - impossibly - survived the killing curse, the killing curse cast by the Dark Lord Voldemort. And worse still, it was this boy - no more than a babe at the time - who had lead to the Dark Lord's death. How this child had done such a thing, defeated his older self at the peak of his power, Tom does not understand.

As the months dragged on, Potter wrote to him almost daily - telling him of school life, homework, and life back home. Tom acted the part as the ever-supportive friend, nothing more than a harmless memory stuck in the pages of a diary, there to help anyone who should stumble upon it. Tom took in every crumb of detail he could squeeze from the boy - about Harry's life, about the modern world, the fall of Voldemort, and the descendants of the families Tom had once knew at school. Tom was always asking questions but seldom giving any information back.

At first, Harry had been cautious with what he revealed, but Tom gave him no reason to suspect anything foul about the diary. It was almost too easy lulling the boy into a false sense of security. The more he trusted Tom, the more he wrote. And with every letter foolish little Harry scribbled onto the yellowed pages, Tom grew stronger and Harry unknowingly grew weaker. 

_There's nothing to be ashamed about, having feelings for someone,_ Tom writes back reassuringly. 

_Are you speaking from experience?_ Harry replies. 

There is a moments pause before an answer appears on paper.

_Yes._

_What was her name?_

Tom is loath to share too much with the boy. He tells him what he has to, little details here and there, useless information that could lead him nowhere should the boy decide to look. All Tom knows of the modern world is what Harry has told him so far and he could not be sure if there is information out there that could link the Dark Lord's true identity to Tom Riddle. Tom has to play his hand carefully. If the boy discoverers who the boy in the diary truly is too soon, then it would spell the end of Tom's resurrection. 

_Tell me your secret first and I'll consider._

_Hermoine,_ Harry answers. _But I think she and Ron have feelings for one another. I wouldn't want to come between them. They're my best friends. It's just a crush. I'm sure I can get over it - eventually. Who did you have a crush on?_

_Her name was Ginny._

_A crush_ is too simplistic a phrase to describe his feeling for Ginny Weasley. There had been a time when she brought him nothing but comfort and warmth. She had been the one person he could call a friend and truly mean it - others held the title, but they meant nothing to him and where simply a means to an end. His companionship lasted as long as their usefulness to him. But Ginny, Ginny had been by his side since his first day of Hogwarts, when by chance they had ended up in the same carriage on the Hogwarts express. With her, his smiles were genuine with no hidden malice. He held a true desire to make her smile and laugh. He felt content in her company, longed for it when she was absent. Their first two years in Hogwarts, it had just been the two of them - friends with no one but each other.

Things had changed between them when he learned the truth of his bloodline. With the knowledge heavy on his shoulders, he had not been satisfied to sit idly by, scorned and ridiculed for his father's filthy muggle name. He was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, the greatest wizard that ever lived and the purest of bloodlines. He deserves respect. He deserves much more than the squalor he had settled with.

But to gain what his family had lost - the respect, the power, the connections - would not come without a cost. Lies, empty promises, deceit and blood. It had loomed over Tom and Ginny's relationship like a foreboding cloud, one he thought Ginny had been blind to. He had underestimated her, or maybe he had been willfully ignorant (he knew she hadn't been ready to understand.)

 _Was she a classmate?_ Harry asks. 

_We were in the same year, though different houses. She was my best friend._

_Was?_

_We had a falling out. Much to my dismay._ There is another pause as Tom sees an opportunity to sway the conversation to his advantage. _We were inseparable. But after the Chamber of Secrets was open and I turned the culprit in... she refused to even look at me._

_Wait! Do you know about the Chamber of Secrets? It's been opened again!_

Tom smirks to himself, darkly amused of the boys ignorance. If only Harry knew that it was himself who had opened the Chamber of Secrets once more. Harry had poured so much of himself into the diary over the last few months that it has given Tom more than enough power to control him for short periods. When would Harry realise that his tiredness was from his lack of sleeping, that at night he was nothing more than a puppet to do Tom's will? When would he spot the blood staining his robes or the stray feathers clinging to his shoes?

 _Someone opened it. Someones released a monster within it. It killed all the school's roosters_ , Harry continues, his writing quick and messy. _It petrified Mrs Norris, the caretaker's cat. The professor's are worried that soon a student may be hurt. Is there anything you can tell me?_

_That's not possible. It can't have been open again. Professor Dumbledore would never allow... unless..._

_Unless what? Please, Tom. There are rumours that the last time it was opened a girl died!_

Tom remembers Myrtle with a sneer, the bothersome girl with her shrill and petty whining and obnoxious flirting. Why Ginny had ever bothered to befriend the girl was beyond on him. Mrytle had been nothing but an embarrassment. The girl's only worth had been her death. allowing Tom to create his Horoxcrux. Without his interference, the girl would have been nothing. 

_Only the Heir of Slytherin can open the Chamber. And I cannot imagine he would ever have been allowed back to the school._

_Who? Who was the Heir of Slytherin?_

_You wouldn't believe me if I told you._

_Why wouldn't I?_

_I can show you..._

* * *

Tom watches unseen as Harry sees the memory unfold. After Myrtle Warren's death, the Ministry had decided that the only appropriate response was to close the school - for the safety of the students and teachers. If they closed it, Tom would have nowhere to go. Hogwarts was his sanctuary, the one place he felt truly at home. He refuses to be sent back to that wretched Muggle world. If the Ministry want a culprit, he would give them one. He has planned for this, should things go wary, and already knows the perfect scapegoat. 

"I have to turn you in Hagrid. I don't think you meant it to hurt anyone." 

"You can't! You don't understand," Hagrid pleads. 

"The parents of that dead girl will be here tomorrow," Tom says. "The least Hogwarts can do is make sure the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered."

Harry Potter stands to the side, watching as Hagrid steps before a wooden chest, protecting it. Tom keeps his wand pointed at the chest, wary of what lies inside. Hagrid's little pet has been a well-kept secret, one that Tom never would have discovered if it hadn't been for Hagrid's one mistake - all best-kept secrets were shared with no one but corpses.

"It wasn't him," Hagrid says desperately. "Arragon wouldn't hurt no one. Never!"

"Monster's don't make good pet's, Hagrid. Now step aside."

"No!" Hagrid shouts.

Tom levelles his wand at Hagrid. 

"Tom stop!"

A flash of red, a swirl of black, and a girl appears before Hagrid and the chest. She outstretches her arms, the sleeves of her Gryffindor robes cascading down. Red hair spills across her dark uniform, her cheeks flushed from running. Tom stills before a determined look crosses his face. He hadn't expected her to be here and certainly does not appreciate her arrival - but dear Ginny has never been shy of going where she was not wanted. 

_Who is that?_ Harry asks. 

Tom says nothing and the vision continues to play, undisturbed by the young boy lurking by the door. 

"Ginny, move," Tom demands gently. 

"Hagrid had nothing to with the attacks or Myrtle's death!" Ginny says, eyes shining with conviction. "You know it wasn't him!"

"Ginny, step aside," Tom says firmly. "You have no idea what he's done, whether he's meant to or not."

"Arragon is an Acromantula. They don't petrify people!"

"They're highly poisonous, Ginny. We don't know what the effects of their toxins on humans are."

"It doesn't make sense, Tom! Why petrify people and leave them?"

"Ginny, I won't ask again. Move aside. I'm doing this to keep Hogwarts and everyone in it - including you - safe. If I don't do something now another innocent person could die, and I will not allow it. What if the next person is you? Another friend? How about one of your brothers?"

Ginny shakes her head, fury sweeping her features. There is something in her eyes - hurt, sadness, anger - as she looks at Tom. It is a look that tells him she isn't going to back down. And unlike Hagrid, she is more than willing to back beliefs with actions. He knows what she is about to do even before her hand whips towards the inside of her coat, to the pocket containing her wand. Having predicted it, Tom moves faster and cries out the _Expelliarmus_ spell, sending Ginny's wand clattering across the room. 

Tom points his wand at the chest. 

" _Sectumsempra_."

The chest explodes in a shower of splintered wood. Hagrid and Ginny jump back, shielding their faces with their arms. A creature the size of a small cat scurries out of the box in a flurry of hairy limbs. Tom's wand trails after it, taking aim before he launches several spells at it, attempting to destroy it. The creature escapes, disappearing down the dark corridors. 

"Arragon!" Hagrid calls out, attempting to chase after it.

Tom steps in front of him, his wand rising threateningly. 

"I can't let you go, Hagrid," Tom whispers regretfully.

"He hasn't done anything wrong!" Ginny pushes her way forward, standing between Tom's wand and Hagrid. Tom narrows his eyes, displeased by her interference and willingness to endanger herself for someone so unworthy of her attentions. What appeal she sees in Hagrid he would never know. 

"Keeping dangerous monsters in the school that kill classmates is something wrong," Tom replies, his voice patient but stern. He gives her a look of disappointment.

"Tom-"

"He'll lose his wand for this. He'll be expelled from Hogwarts. And if you don't stop interfering, if you keep defending him, they may start to think you had something to do with it too." Ginny looks ready to argue, always so quick to put herself in difficult situations for others. But there is one thing that would halt her long enough for him to gain control of the situation. "Think about how this will affect your father. Having a daughter suspected of being an accomplice in attacks on muggle-born students? His career won't survive that." 

Ginny's family is poor, their main source of income coming from her father's job at the Ministry. A scandal such as this could easily cost him his job and with it putting her family in financial ruin. Ginny may be willing to sacrifice herself for others, but she is not going to jeopardise her family - they mean too much to her. It is a low blow Tom is not ashamed to stoop to, and he can see the pain in her eyes that he has twisted that particular knife.

He will make it up to her later - one day she would see that everything he did was the greatest good. Life would be so much easier for both of them once he has won. He would give her everything she deserves and more. No more second-hand books or hand-me-down clothes that earn them nothing but snide remarks from those who thought themselves above them. No more scrimping and saving to treat themselves to basic necessities. No more being looked down upon for their family names and lack of fortune. No, soon everyone would learn who their true betters were.

"Ginny... just... just step aside. It'll be alright. I'll explain everything to the Professors," Hagrid mumbles, gently pushing her away. "I don't want you getting into any more trouble on my behalf."

Tom escorts Hagrid out the room, sparing Ginny one final glance. She looks at him fiercely, betrayal burning in her eyes. 

* * *

_Hagrid? He's the heir of Slytherin? No. No, he can't be._

_I told you you wouldn't believe me. My best friend wouldn't believe me so why would you?_

_But Hagrid... He wouldn't hurt anyone. There has to be a mistake._

_He didn't mean to do it, I don't think. At least... not back then. Who knows how the years have changed him? Wandless. Banned from Hogwarts. Responsible for the death of a poor innocent girl. It's enough to drive anyone mad._

_No, you're wrong, Tom. He can't have done it. You made a mistake._

_Ginny didn't believe me either. How easily the girl that died could have been her. I was protecting my school. Protecting my friend. If you thought someone would do harm - intentionally or not - to someone you loved, would you too not act?_

Harry's quill pauses above the paper. 

_I don't want you to hate me. I consider you a friend, Harry. Don't spur me for my action protecting the things that are most important to me. You've written about Hagrid before, I know you consider him a friend. But sometimes it's the people closest to us that are ones we have to watch out for._

_I just... I need to go. I need to think._

_Promise you'll write again._

_I promise._

* * *

And write the boy did. He poured his secrets and soul into the diary until there was nothing left to give - until he was completely leached of life. By the time Harry realised what had been happening, it was too late. Tom was in control. He had marched the boy to the chambers like a prisoner to the gallows. Here the boy's skeleton would lie forever, the boys undeserving reward for his servitude to Lord Voldermort. With his death, Tom was reborn from the pages of the diary.

And now, there is one other still to be reborn.

Tom strokes the journal in his hands, thinking of autumn hair, lush green eyes, and a pale face sprinkled with freckles. 

He has kept her journal here, hidden away from harm. Here she lay in the Chamber, safe and asleep, where no one could hurt her and she could cause no trouble. He had hoped she would come to his side of her own accord, that he wouldn't have had to resort to the means that he had. But after the incident with Hagrid, she had never looked at him the same way. 

Tom thought himself above others, that no one held power over him in any measurement. Yet the day she had walked away from him, with venom on her lips as deadly as the Basilisk's poison, he knew she was too dangerous to him not to act. Love was a weakness and his feelings for Ginny were too much of a liability. 

She could have been his greatest ally in his quest, a source of power and strength. But she hadn't understood, too wrapped up in her idealistic views. And if she was not with him, then she was against him. She was a threat. And he took all threats to his power seriously. No matter who they were.

* * *

**_Hogwarts - 1943_ **

Tom watches as Hagrid is taken away, never will he walk through Hogwarts doors. With Hagrid's unwilling sacrifice, Hogwarts will remain open, and the filthy mud bloods who walk the halls will be granted temporary peace. Tom knows he will need to come up with a new plan to cleanse the school of its impurities. If he releases the Basilkils now, they would close the school down and he would have nowhere to go, but an impoverished orphanage that could be destroyed by falling bombs at any moment. He never wants to hear the sirens cries or the whistle of falling bombs again.

The click of echoing footsteps makes him lookup. Standing on the balcony, one hand resting against the rail, is Ginny. She looks down at him with an expressionless face, her face half-hidden behind a curtain of red hair.

"Ginny," Tom calls up to her, his voice soft in a way it only is around her. There is no facade of tenderness when it comes to her, not like it was when he spoke to everyone else. He makes his way up the stairs, stopping a few feet away from her. He has to tilt his head to see her. "I know you're not happy with what I've had to do."

"You didn't have to do anything," Ginny grits out. "You just ruined Hagrid's life, based on what? Nothing but speculation on what his pet _could_ have done. You don't have any proof."

"I've been watching him closely since this all started, Ginny. He's been acting strange, missing classes, acting paranoid-"

"He's my friend, Tom!"

"And so am I!" Tom snaps, voice raising. He takes in a deep breath, calming himself but his words still come out vicious though quiet. "I've been your friend longer than he has. I'm more than a friend. I'm your boyfriend. I was trying to protect everyone."

Ginny bites her lip, looking bitter and angry. Tears well in her eyes but she refuses to let them fall. "You should have trusted me. I told you he didn't do it and you wouldn't believe me. How did you even know about Arragon?" 

"It doesn't matter," Tom retorts. "You should have told me what Hagrid was up to. I thought there were no secrets between us." 

"It was none of your business, Tom!"

Ginny turns, ready to leave. 

"Ginny, wait-" Tom reaches for her sleeve but she brushes him off. 

"I don't want to speak to you right now, Tom."

"Why? What did I do wrong?" Tom demands to know. 

"My boyfriend wouldn't trust my judgment and has just sent my friend to Azkaban!" Ginny hisses, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Why do you think I don't want to speak to you?"

"Ginny! You're being unreasonable."

Ginny pulls a face at him and storm off. 

Tom watches her leave. 

* * *

**_Present Day - The Chamber of Secrets_ **

Tom sits upon the floor of the Chamber, his back resting against the Basilisk. He opens the journal, flipping through the pages until he comes to the end of Ginny's writings. With a flick of his wand and a silent spell, he conjures a quill and ink. In elegant script, he began to write. He hesitates only a moment, knowing she will not pleased with him. Half a century they have been parted and the first words they will share will be an argument. 

_Hello, Ginny._

A moment passes before his writing vanishes, replaced by a familiar wobbly scrawl.

_Is that you, Tom?_

_Yes, you once knew me by that name._

It is not his name anymore, but it is the only name she knows him by. 

_How long have you left me in this journal? Hours, days weeks... months?_

_Nearly fifty years._

There is a long pause. 

_You're lying. Not even you are that cruel to leave me here for that long._

_It wasn't intentional. There were... complications._

_It can't be true. It can't be! If fifty years have passed..._

He knows her first concern is her family - her father, mother and brothers. How have they fared over the years? Are they even still alive? Did they know what had happened to her? Had they mourned for her? Tom has few answers to give her, stuck in a diary for fifty years as she had been. He knows her brothers have had children, seeing as Potter had mentioned the Weasley name on occasion. He isn't sure if that is news she will want to hear, to know that her family has moved on without her. 

_I'm sorry, Ginny._

_You're not sorry. Don't lie - you've never been sorry once in your life. All you care about is yourself!_

_That isn't true. I care about you._

_Then why lock me in a journal? Why treat me like a prisoner?_

_To keep you safe._

_You did it to save your own skin! You knew I'd tell the Professors the truth. That it was you who opened the Chamber of Secrets!_

He does not deny it. It had been unfortunate that Ginny had followed him on their last night at Hogwarts. He had wanted to see the Basilisk one final time, not knowing when he would be able to see the beast again. It was a mistake that had haunted him for years, for it had forced his hand to imprison Ginny in the journal. He no longer regrets it - as it is the reason that Ginny is here with him now. 

_I hate you,_ Ginny scribbles furiously. _I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you..._

Tom slams the journal shut.


	2. Silence and Memories

The night sky writhes with his calling, a serpent entwined with death. Under the shadow of Hogwarts, hooded figures apparate around him. Ghastly masks hide their faces, their bodies draped in dark robes. Tom wonders what face lies behind each mask, what names his future self was able to acquire the loyalty of. He will learn soon enough. Where his future self had finished, he would continue.

Tom casts one final glance at his former school, swearing to return. Until then, he knows it is in safe hands. 

In a swirl of black and green robes, Tom strides into the dark forest, his disciples following obediently. 

Screams from Hogwarts trail after them.

Slytherin's Monster finally unleashed to finish its first and final Master's bidding. 

* * *

_Ginny? You can't ignore me forever._

Tom watches the open pages of the journal, his irritation growing with each moment they remain blank. Every night for a month he has written to her, and every day she ignores him. He has tried explaining to her his actions - why he unleashed the monster all those years ago, why he bound her within the journal - hoping that he can make her understand what she had refused to listen to before.

He does not tell her what else he has done since she was trapped in her tomb, for even he is still learning the full extent of his future self's schemes. She will condemn them all with righteous fury, lash out at him, curse him and if she were not trapped she would not hesitate to draw her wand on him. No, there is much that will need to be hidden, until she is ready.

As his patience thins, he tries goading her, knowing how easily flared her temper is. He then tries tempting her with news of her remaining family, of her nieces and nephews and their children that she is yet to learn of. He tries reminding her of their friendship, of the bond that they shared. 

_Stop it._

Tom looks sharply at the words Ginny has scribbled, each letter indented deeply as if she has taken a quill and stabbed it into the page. He can feel her anger and hurt as though it is a tangible thing, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. She does not what him to remind her of the good times they have shared, refuses to see him as anything other than a monster, but he will remind her whether she wishes to or not. He has seen his opening and will not let her slam the door shut. 

Every night he writes down a memory. 

Every night, she refuses to answer.

But he can feel it now through the journal, her desire to respond, to snap at the bait. He can see it through the taunt pages of the journal as if they are clutched by a phantom's grasp. How specks of ink appears like a quill is poised above but has yet to touch the parchment. He can see the brief indents as though fists have smacked against the book. He knows she wants to reply, to condemn him and hate him and spew every vile insult she can to try and hurt him.

Though that is not the response he wants, he will take anything over the silence and emptiness.

* * *

**_Hogwarts - 1942_ **

_**"**_ I know I said you need to make more friends, but why them?"

"I'm doing what you suggested, Ginny. You can't complain," Tom says with a shrug. "You never hear me complain about your friends." 

Even though he finds there is much to complain about. 

Over the past weeks, Tom had been working on creating new 'friendships'. Unlike Ginny who befriended anyone regardless of name, blood or money, Tom has taken a more practical approach. He chose to cultivate relations with people who one day could be of use to him through their connections and heritage - mostly his fellow Slytherins, the elite and well known. They were the types of people that Ginny made a point of ignoring. He couldn't blame her, seeing as they were the ones who sneered at her for her lack of wealth. Ginny preferred the company of her fellow Gryffindors with their indignant righteousness and exhausting morals (Potter, Lucus, Noah, McBeth) or the social outcasts who had few companions (Hagrid, Warren... him.) 

"I thought you'd have better taste," Ginny grumbles. 

"I don't know how you came to that conclusion considering I'm friends with you." 

Ginny gasps, whirling around to swat his arm. 

"Cheeky git." Ginny ignores Tom's amused smirk and quickens her speed, knowing they don't have much longer before the beginning of their next class. "How anyone finds you charming I'll never understand." 

"Who finds me charming?" 

There was a slight pout in Ginny's demeanour. "Everyone and their aunt. You've got them wrapped around your finger."

"Careful Ginny," Tom says with deliberate slowness, a teasing glint in his eye. "You almost sound jealous."

Ginny snorts and pointedly runs her eyes down and up the length of his body. "You should be so lucky."

Tom is prevented from retorting when a group of Hufflepuffs - dressed in their Quittich gear and clutching their brooms - scurry by, forcing Tom and Ginny to press themselves up against the wall. Ginny mentions something about the upcoming game in the next few days, Hufflepuff versus Slytherin. As they continue down the hall she rants about the last time the two teams had played and how the Professors had been favouring the Hufflepuffs, giving them extra training time on the pitch.

Truthfully, Tom could not care less about the game, but it delights him to no end seeing how aminate and passionate it makes Ginny. He listens as she devels into the new tactics her team has devised, how it was inspired by previous legendary players, and what her role in it will be. He enjoys seeing her eyes light up and promises to be in the stalls to see her perform in the next game. When Ginny mentions her excitement at their new team Captain Noah's skills on the field, Tom's smile drops and he is barely able to conceal a scowl.

Just as they reach the doors to their class, Ginny pauses. She puts her hands behind her back and stares up at him with a smile that is far too sweet to be natural. The pretty flutter of her eyelashes is what sets off some primal survival instinct within him. Tom narrows his eyes and crosses his arms, already sensing a looming heartache. She was going to ask something of him. Something irksome no doubt. 

"By the way," Ginny drawls with an innocence only a demon could muster when up to mischief. "About our study date today." 

"You're not cancelling, are you?" Tom asks, a little too sharply to hide his displeasure. 

"No, but I was hoping you'd be okay with me inviting someone else along."

Tom hopes with all his being that it isn't that brainless oaf Noah. 

"She could really use some help with her homework and after all, you are the smartest boy in school." 

Flattery too? Whoever it was she wanted to invite had to be awful if she was pulling out all the stops. 

"Who?" Tom asks, wanting this over with. 

"Oh, just Myrtle."

Tom blinks, remembering the girl and her shrill voice, lack of manners, and poor grasp of personal boundaries. He would rather hang from the rafters by his ankles. 

"No," Tom says firmly. "Not a chance."

Ginny takes a step closer, long lashes fluttering. That sickenly sweet, puppy dog eyed look may work on her weak-willed brothers, but it would not work on- 

"Please Tom." 

Tom sighs dramatically and rolls his eyes. 

"Fine," he forces out. 

Ginny grins. "You don't have to sound so miserable about it. It won't be _that_ bad." 

Tom winces, knowing full well that whenever Ginny said that things weren't that bad, they were _always_ worse.

* * *

"Oh, Tom, I do love your hair."

Tom inhales deeply through his nose, hand tightening on his quill. At the other side of the desk, he sees Ginny bite her lip and lift her book higher so she can hide behind it like a coward, leaving him to deal with her new pity project. He hears the scrape of wood against wood as the subject of his discomfort scoots her chair closer to him, her shoulder brushing against his - he does his best to repress a shudder. 

Tom forces a polite smile on his face. "Thank you, Myrtle - _again_. Now, how about we try and focus on the assignment? It's due in next week." 

"Plenty of time then," Myrtle says with a dismissive wave of her hand. She reaches out and brushes her fingers against Tom's hair.

Tom stiffens. Ginny peeks out from her hiding place and cringes, but makes no move to offer him help - he wonders if she is secretly enjoying his suffering, as any good friend would. Well then, if Ginny is going to leave him out to dry he sees no reason to indulge her in this silly little charity case.

"Your hair is softer than it looks. How in Merlin's beard do you get it that way?" Myrtle cooes.

"Washing it," Tom retorts briskly. "Perhaps you've heard of the concept-" 

A book crashes to the floor, cutting him off from his vicious quip and startling Myrtle. The irksome girl turns to see Ginny picking up her books that have mysteriously fallen to the floor with impeccable timing. Ginny smiles apologetically to Myrtle while at the same time kicking Tom's shin under the table. Tom glares at her. He hasn't done anything wrong. If anything he should be given a sainthood for having endured Mrtyle's excessive flirting and caresses for the past hour of hell. 

"Sorry, dropped my book," Ginny laughs nervously. 

"Dropped them?" Tom says dryly, quirking a brow. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, Tom. What did you say before? I didn't quite catch it thanks to all that awful racket Ginny made," Myrtle pouts. 

Myrtle places her hand over Tom's and bats her eyelashes. Tom feels his skin crawl at the touch and his fingers itch for his wand. He does not like people touching him. 

"I was about to ask that you reframe from touching my hair." He mummers. He glances innocently up at Ginny who is instantly wary of his sudden bashful air, knowing he is up to something. "Ginny gets terribly jealous when other girls touch me and I wouldn't want to create any tension between you two." 

Myrtle pulls away abruptly, sitting up straight. The younger girl narrows her eyes at a gob-smacked Ginny. 

"And why would she be jealous? You're allowed to be around other girls," Myrtle snaps indignantly. 

Ginny shakes her head, confused and offended. "What are you on about, Tom? I have _never_ -"

"And truthfully," Tom carries on, still maintaining a shy and apologetic demeanour. "I wouldn't want to give people the wrong impression. Ginny and I haven't made it official yet and I wouldn't want any misunderstandings when we do."

"Are you two dating?" Myrtle gasps. 

Ginny's cheeks have gone an interesting shade of red. She looks like a fish out of water, mouth gaping, words refusing to form. The steadily growing fury on Myrtle's face is not helping Ginny grasp her bearings nor does it bode well for their budding friendship. 

"What? Tom and I dating?" Ginny chokes out a fragile laugh. "Don't be-"

He will not let her weasel her way out of this one. This was supposed to be _their_ study date, a time reserved for the two of them. He has allowed Myrtle to interlope only because Ginny has asked. The study session has turned out exactly as he had dreaded and Ginny deserves to squirm a little as punishment.

"I'm sure Myrtle can keep a secret, can't you?" 

"Why of course, Tom. Anything you say will be kept strictly between us," Myrtle replies, a little too suggestively for Tom or Ginny's liking.

Tom strains to keep his charming smile in place. "We are dating, have been for a while." 

Much to his pleasure, Myrtle's smile drops and Ginny's mouth falls open. 

"Oh, Ginny didn't mention that," Myrtle says tartly.

Ginny shakes her head, reaching for the other girl. 

"Wait, Myrtle-" 

"Well, I'll be off then. Wouldn't want to be a third wheel on your love bird date," Myrtle practically snarls.

Myrtle casts a snide glower at Ginny, grabs her things and leaves. Tom watches her go with a pleased smile before dusting his shoulder where she had touched. 

Ginny slowly turns her scowl towards Tom.

Tom tilts his head, locks of black falling over dark eyes. He smiles at her slyly.

"You're right, Ginny. That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

* * *

It isn't until they are outside of the library - to a place where there are no witnesses - that Ginny spins around to confront Tom, finger jabbing his chest.

"Why did you say that?" Ginny hisses. "She'll hate me forever now!"

"It got rid of her, didn't it? And better yet she'll know better than to cosy up to me again," Tom responds with disdain. "Why did you even try to be her friend? There's a reason no one likes her. She's annoying."

And that was him being kind about it. 

"She's just a little..." Ginny flounders for a word to describe Myrtle Warren and her eccentric personality. Tom can think of many. Vexing. Childish. Desperate. Petty. Pathetic. "Difficult. She deserves a friend and I thought if she hung about with us then people wouldn't pick on her as much. Not with us around." 

They may not be high on the social ladder at Hogwarts, but over the years Tom and Ginny have built up reputations that protect themselves from their more violent classmates. Ginny was well known for picking fights and seldom losing, while everyone knows Tom was the top of his classes and could wield a wand better than anyone else.

"We're not her bodyguards. She needs to learn to defend herself, just like we did." 

Ginny sighs. "I remember what it was like for us. The name-calling. The pranks. People avoiding us." 

"She was bothering you as much as she was bothering me," Tom mutters, not caring for the plight of Myrtle. It has taken Ginny and Tom years to carve out a safe and respectable niche with the school, he does not want to risk that for a wallowing, self-obsessed girl like Myrtle.

"I'm worried about her. Last night I found her in the girls bathroom crying her eyes out. Olivie Horty had been picking on her again. I think she spends most of her days locked away in there."

"She should report it to a teacher. It isn't your place to protect her." 

Ginny glances away from him, knowing she will not win this argument.

"I can't believe you told her I was your girlfriend. You know she has a crush on you." Ginny runs a hand through her hair. "You can tell her the truth. I am not pretending to be your girlfriend."

"It doesn't have to pretend." He says it casually, glancing away to watch their shadows on the wall.

He feels her tense and turn her wide-eyed stare towards him. He cannot help but hold his breath as waits for her reply. Will she take him seriously or laugh it off as a joke? Will she accept him... or reject him? He almost regrets the words for fear it will put a strain on their friendship. But he wants to know - _needs_ to know - if she is willing to explore a different kind of relationship. If there is something other than friendship between them. 

"Is this your way of asking me out?" Ginny whispers.

"And if it is?" he asks softly, bringing his gaze back to hers. He is glad that he has, for there is a smile twitching at the corner of her lips. Hope blossoms in his chest - there is no malice or humour there, it is a look kindred to a cautious hope. 

Ginny lets out a breathless laugh. "Now? Now of all times is when you decide to ask?

"Do you have a preferred date and time? I'm happy to oblige if it's you. Sure I can fit you somewhere in my schedule." 

He sees the smile growing on Ginny's face. Gently, she mummers, "what an uncreative way of asking."

She straightens her shoulders, a playful look on her face as she flips her long hair over her shoulder and walks right past him. She is close enough that he can smell the grapefruit shampoo in her hair and he wishes nothing more than to run his hand through the silky strands. He follows after her, watching her eyes twinkling as she glances over her shoulder at him. 

"After having a crush on me since first year and with how intelligent you are, I'm shocked you couldn't have come up with a better way of asking me out."

It is Tom's turn to laugh. 

"Since first year? I see your modesty has caught the last train out of Hogwarts."

"No need to be shy about it, Tom," Ginny remarks teasingly. "Though I now have hope for your taste."

Tom grabs her hand, easily spinning her around to face him and bringing them to a stop.

"You really think you can pull a stunt like you did in the library then expect me to say yes to dating you?" Ginny whispers quietly, looking up at him with bright eyes.

"And do you think I'll let you keep avoiding the question?"

"Do you really mean it? Or are you just playing games?"

Tom lifts a hand to rest against her cheek, his thumb lightly caressing her skin. His other hand brings hers to his chest, over his heart, their fingers entwined. He never lets anyone get this close to him, such things are reserved only for her. His eyes wander across her face, adoringly taking in every freckle, the light blush on her cheeks, the small scar at the top of her left ear from having fallen off her broom in second year. 

"Not with you."

Ginny bites her lip and Tom's eyes follow the movement. She hesitates, only for a breath, before going on the tips of her toes and placing the chastest of chase kisses on his lips. His eyes widen as she pulls away, the red on her cheeks growing brighter. With her free hand, she tucks her hair behind her ear. She looks anywhere but at him. 

"There's your answer," she whispers. "Satisfactory?" 

"Hardly."

Ginny frowns but anything she could have said was silenced when Tom leans down and kisses her deeply. His hands move to her cradle either side of her face, pulling her closer. He pulls away only to plant another kiss on her chapped lips, this one soft and fleeting as the one she has given him. He feels her smile against him, her hands coming up to rest of his chest, fingers playing with his tie. 

"Better," Tom says softly. 

Ginny gives him a bright smile before burying her head into his chest, a joyful laugh leaving her lips. 

* * *

**_Present Day._ **

_Do you remember that day? Our first kiss. Our first day as a couple._

He wants her to say yes. He wants her to remember the feel of his lips against hers and yearn for it once more, just as he does. He wants so many things but Ginny - stubborn, beautiful Ginny - refuses him at every turn. He wants them to be the way they once were. Friends. Allies. Lovers. He wants them on the same side. 

_I remember you being unnecessarily cruel to a girl who needed help._ _You couldn't even spare her a kindness before you murdered her._

Tom's one gripe about the memory is the heavy presence of Myrtle sulling it. Once again, Myrtle is ruining things. Showing up where she was not needed or wanted.

_She was being annoying._

_You should have given her a chance. And let's face it, the reason you didn't want her there was because you didn't like sharing your toys._

_A toy? Is that what you think you are to me?_

_What else am I?_

_You know exactly what you were - what you are - to me, Ginny. Just because it scares you doesn't mean you should run from it._

_She didn't need to die!_

_Stop bringing her into this. This isn't about her. This is about-_

_It has everything to do with her! You killed her. You killed her in cold blood and you don't even care. How many more innocent people have you killed over the years, Tom? How much blood stains your hands?_

There is a knock on his bedroom door. Tom glances up from his desk, finding one of Malfoy's house elves bowing to him. The elf tells him that dinner will be served shortly, that his Death Eaters are waiting for him downstairs. Tom waves the creature away. He sighs, running a hand through his hair as he stares at the journal.

He will try again tomorrow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your lovely comments! I'll respond to them later on tonight. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thank you for taking the time to read it. There's at least another chapter or two left xx


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